A Canadian man has revealed how he diced with police during a daring pre-dawn skate across the frozen reflecting pool in front of the heavily patrolled Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

Keegan Bursaw walks by the Capitol Reflecting Pool every day on his way to work at the Canadian Embassy. But last Friday, the six-acre water feature caught his eye. It was frozen.

Keegan BursawKeegan Bursaw skates across the reflecting pool in front of Capitol Hill.

The glint off the ice reminded Bursaw of his days spent gliding across the Rideau Canal when he was a child growing up in Ottawa. This was the first time the 25-year-old had ever seen the pristine waters at the eastern end of the National Mall turn to ice.

The temperature in Washington usually hovers above the freezing mark, but this January the mercury dropped below -5, freezing the large pool of water.

Bursaw desperately wanted to lace up his skates and glide across the newly frozen surface. He felt as though he was staring at a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Bursaw’s father always told him, “If you have an opportunity to do something, and you don’t do it, you’re going to regret it forever.”

So he began to hatch a plan. He thought he’d have a better chance of going undetected if he skated solo, so he kept his idea secret from his friends.

Early Sunday morning Bursaw pulled on two pairs of long underwear and stepped out into the dark, freezing cold. He biked down to Capitol Hill and at arrived at the reflecting pool at about 6 a.m. He took a quick look around, and quickly pulled on his skates.

“My heart was racing. It felt very daring,” Bursaw said. “Like I was doing something wrong.”

He stepped out on to the frozen pool and took off across the ice as “smooth as glass.” Bursaw grabbed his hockey stick and sent a puck and shards of ice sailing across the frigid surface.

“I though I was being so sneaky,” he said. Bursaw thought no one would spot him in the dark.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYgISRXsZSM&w=940&h=529]

But after a few minutes, he started to notice the cop cars.

A few police officers drove around the pool without stopping. But Bursaw was more worried about a vehicle parked near the Capitol. The cops in that car started flashing their lights at Bursaw — about every five minutes.

Keegan BursawKeegan Bursaw snaps a photo of the reflecting pool in front of Capitol Hill.

He ducked behind one of the statues at the side of the pool, so the police couldn’t see him. Adrenaline pumping, he decided he would keep skating until he was told to stop. He managed to get in about 30 minutes of ice time.

As the the sun started to rise, a cop car drove down one of the side roads parallel to the pond and stopped near Bursaw.

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to get off the ice now,” Bursaw heard over the loud speaker. The cops didn’t want anyone else to get the same idea, he said.

“I’d expected him to get out and come over and get mad at me,” he said. “I though I was going to get arrested. But it didn’t happen.”

He decided to skate one more lap. When he sat down to take off his skates off, the cop car drove away.

As Bursaw biked away from the Capitol, he passed the police who were flashing their lights at him. The officers were outside their car now, drinking coffee.

“I gave them a friendly nod, and they laughed and waved back,” Bursaw said. “And I went on my way.”

Since sharing his early morning skate with friends and on social media, more people have expressed their desire to glide across the Capitol Reflecting Pool.

“Looks like I’m trying this,” a Reddit user said, after Bursaw posted a photo from his skate online. “Maybe we will meet up and be pre-dawn hockey ninja buddies.”

But others may not get the same chance. The weather was perfect for skating. The cops left him alone. Everything lined up for him Sunday morning.

WASHINGTON — The spectacle of buttoned-down Canadian diplomats picketing Canada’s embassy drew some fascinated stares Friday from tourists and other passersby in the U.S. capital.

About three dozen placard-waving foreign service workers marched in front of the famed Capitol Hill building in an “information picket” aimed at shining the spotlight on stalled negotiations between the federal government and the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers.

The union has been in a legal strike position since talks with the Treasury Board broke down a month ago. The workers say they are underpaid compared to other public servants with similar qualifications and experience.

The 1,350 union members have already taken part in work-to-rule campaigns that have included refusing to work overtime or to respond to work-related emails after hours.

Though hitting the bricks might go against the discreet, generally well-behaved nature of diplomats, the picket was necessary to highlight significant wage gaps that have been “festering” for years, said union president Tim Edwards.

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“We’re coming here simply because the U.S. is Canada’s most important trading partner and ally, this is our largest mission abroad, and this is one of our largest complements of foreign service officers abroad,” Edwards said.

“This was a logical place to raise the profile of our issues abroad, which is equal pay for equal work.”

A week ago, foreign service workers in Ottawa held similar pickets at Foreign Affairs headquarters. Edwards said there may be information pickets at other foreign embassies in the weeks to come if negotiations remain at a stalemate.

This was a logical place to raise the profile of our issues abroad, which is equal pay for equal work

At Friday’s picket, the diplomats were impeccably dressed — both men and women, including some aides to Ambassador Gary Doer, walked the line in conservative business suits. But that could change: the union is asking diplomats to start a “creative dress” campaign, including wearing sweatpants to work.

“I’d go there,” said one picketing worker who asked not to be identified.

Other diplomats in D.C. have been responding to the “creative dress” dictum by wearing lapel buttons to raise awareness about their cause.

“That has the advantage of prompting contacts to ask us what they’re about, and then we can explain about the job action,” said an embassy employee.

The picketing diplomats received an unintended bit of moral support Friday from a busload of high-school students from Cambridge, Ont., who were exploring the outdoor echo chamber at the embassy.

As the workers made their way down the embassy’s front steps to begin their job action, the students simultaneously — and coincidentally — began singing “O Canada.”